NYT Connections April 2: Hints, Answers, and Help for Game #1026

Filmogaz.com presents solutions for the New York Times Connections puzzle released April 2, 2026. For players seeking help, NYT Connections April 2: Hints, Answers, and Help for Game #1026 is available here.

Puzzle overview

The puzzle featured four color-coded groups. The purple group proved the hardest for many solvers.

Hints guided players from easiest to toughest. Yellow was simplest. Purple required a different approach.

How the Times tools help

The New York Times provides a Connections Bot for post-play analysis. It generates a numeric score and reviews answers.

Registered players can track progress. Statistics include puzzles completed, win rate, perfect scores and streaks.

Hints by group

Four one-line hints pointed to each color group. They ran from yellow to purple, ordered by difficulty.

• Yellow hint: “I’m behind you!”
• Green hint: “Gimme a break!”
• Blue hint: “Not a doe.”
• Purple hint: “Drink up!”

Answers and themes

Yellow group — Support

The yellow set grouped words related to support or backing. The four answers were:

• back
• champion
• endorse
• second

Green group — Opportunity

The green group centered on moments of opportunity. The answers were:

• chance
• moment
• opening
• window

Blue group — Male animals

The blue words named male animals. The set included:

• buck
• drake
• drone
• stallion

Purple group — Ends of liquor brands

The purple group consisted of word endings that match liquor brand names. Solvers needed to spot the brand fragments.

• Cardi (from Bacardi)
• eater (from Beefeater)
• meson (from Jameson)
• migos (from Casamigos)

Toughest Connections puzzles so far

Filmogaz.com has tracked several notably tricky puzzles. These past themes may aid pattern recognition.

• #5 — “Things you can set”: mood, record, table, volleyball.
• #4 — “One in a dozen”: egg, juror, month, rose.
• #3 — “Streets on screen”: Elm, Fear, Jump, Sesame.
• #2 — “Power ___”: nap, plant, Ranger, trip.
• #1 — “Things that can run”: candidate, faucet, mascara, nose.